Halx

I'm currently drawing up a business proposal (or as my dad called it, a vision) that I hope to draw some interest with. My plan is a hard sell - not a guaranteed profit. I'm contemplating moving along the non-profit lines, but I first want to see if I can get some grants and perhaps some venture capitalists who have some extra money to throw around.

My question would be to those who know small business. What are some grants that I can apply for, and through who? Do I need a profit forecast to get started? How can I get anything like that if I don't have any business education and currently no capital to hire someone who does? Finally, are there any off-beat web resources that you would suggest?

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onetime2

The Small Business Administration is a good place to start for business planning help.

http://www.sba.gov/

SCORE is another resource:

http://www.score.org/

Grants are obviously a difficult thing to come by. When shooting for grants and angels (very early investors in a business) your goal(s) have to resonate with those who are giving the grants and loans in a big way. Not that it can't happen but it's a very difficult route. Unfortunately, if the business is more along the non-profit line then that's likely the best way for you to go since banks and other venture capitalists want to know what's in it for them and they're usually only interested in businesses that can show at least some history of sales.

As far as where you can go to get grants, it will really depend on the business you're looking to open.

I have a fair amount of experience in the corporate world with developing business plans, targeting customers, and creating business case models. I'll gladly offer whatever guidance I can.

--Paul

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powerclown

[edit: should have read the above more carefully.]

Good luck

gar1976

If you're not planning on making a profit, most VC won't touch you with a 10 foot pole. They want a return on their investment for the most part, and considering most business plans have fluffed up numbers to start with, one that shows a loss over a five year span is not really looked upon favorably.

As for a nonprofit, keep in mind that they take lots of effort and you won't get much back - they're called "nonprofit" for a reason. What you need to do is to decide what exactly your goal is, and then go after specific grants. Most grants will come from the government (federal or state, although state grants have become increasingly rare with the current fiscal state of most governments) and from large charitible funds. Grant writing for the application is actually a very well-honed skills, and good grant writers are very sought after and paid well.

To get started, get a business plan and model down and in writing, then start assembling some numbers. There's a few terms to keep in mind, such as net income and cash flow (not the same thing). If you've got a CPA friend, start hitting them up for some help on putting the numbers together.

Most plans I've seen have a short (less than one year), mid-range (1-3 years), and long term (3-5 years) sections, and numbers to go along with those for all periods. Round your numbers to the nearest hundred.

If you have no cash, start hitting up friends with some biz exerience quickly, and see if you can swap services (if you do any web page design, you might be able to trade off).

Good luck, keep us updated.

Merlocke

Halx,

What type of busines are you looking to get into?
Depending on the type - perhaps I may be able to assist.
If not assist personally - I've got a network of contacts that might be able to help.
Plus - if you post it - someone who's bound to know something will read it and lend a helping hand.

Least we could do for this great forum that's basically my second home

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Halx

Right now my business plan is all words and no numbers. To be frank, I want to actualize the TFP in physical form. The nature of this site is more charitable than profitable. I will need ideas. Thanks for all the help so far. I've used the SBA site to begin my proposal, but it's still about 50% finished. I still have no idea where I am going to get actual numbers to show VC's a return on investment.

One has to be wary of posting ideas on the internet, though, so I don't know how much of this I want to share.

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zenmaster10665

Now *that* sounds interesting!

How, though?

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Halx

Easy... if only I had money.

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onetime2

The first step to getting numbers is defining your market. Who are your competitors? Yahoo type message boards? Content specific message boards? Others? What are their business models? What do these message boards bring to their hosts?

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Halx

Ahh... you took that the wrong way.

Think: The Tilted Cafe

Competitors being coffee shops, small restaurants, jazz clubs, internet cafes

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Xepidemic

i always thought that laundry mats make good money esp. if they are near campuses, apartments, etc. maybe a laundry mat with a small cafe on the side where people can have coffee and surf the web.
ive also thought of cyber cafe with sooped up pc's that can play next generation games. i know the ones near me cant handle Doom III. its all c-strike with crappy gf2 cards. I know a big banner like "WE HAVE DOOM III", or "WE HAVE HL2" would draw me into a cafe.
back in new jersey there was this place called Fusion-ti. the owner actually has a xanga and website. www.fusion-ti.com and http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=fusion_ti the big draw of that place was the drinks they sell and the place was pretty chill. it had a nice atmosphere also. everyone just went there when it was late at night to have a drink, talk, play cards, whatever. and they have a couple computers for whoever wants to play games or surf. it got really popular and he opened up another place. he must make bank now.
good luck on your vision. and if it happens, dood hook me up with a J-O-B. i need one badly.

Rodney

There's a place like that where I live (Santa Cruz, CA), the "Wired Wash"; it's a laundromat, coffee house, and internet cafe, and an art gallery; it's open 24/7. It's got a great location: right next to a hip, low-cost restaurant that's open 20 hours a day, a 24-hours Kinko's, and the town's teen center. And yes, this is a college town.

The place seems to do quite well; there's always a fair number of people in there. They were moving into live music, too, but they've had trouble getting the permits.

onetime2

Ahh, yes I did. That is actually a far easier nut.

Here are some overall numbers:

http://www.census.gov/epcd/ec97/industry/E722213.HTM

Some more specifics to the industry where you're likely to be classified:

http://www.restaurant.org/

You will of course have to get specifics to the area where you plan to open it. The local chamber of commerce is an excellent starting point. They should be able to provide typical rents and probably some contact information for small business friendly bankers.

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Merlocke

So... gonna have a cafe with a bunch of computers for people to all be logged onto TFP with? .

If you're looking for charitable purposes - I help do tax shelter programs for folks in Canada - where the proceeds go to charities. If that can help you out in any way - let me know.

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